Archive for the Uncategorized Category

Hi again,
Fairly recently I have been noticing that if I forget to wear my BP100 I miss it during the day. I will be talking In a conversation and realize I can’t hear as well as I normally do. I think that this means that I have fully adjusted to my new hearing aid, a little less that a year from when I first got it. Also, sometimes I start to think that I forgot it because I don’t notice it, but it turns out I am still wearing it. This proves that the new hearing aid has become part of my life, and is no longer something weird and different.

Yes, I know that I haven’t made any posts recently, but to tell the truth there hasn’t been anything to talk about. Unitll now, I mean. Recently I sent my new BP100 in for a software update, one that was supposedly going to fix the feedback problems. I got it back, and the update definately helps, but is still not perfect. For things like the stove timer (the beeping triggers the feedback), the feedback starts like usual, but stops about a second after the sound stops. Before, it used to squeal for up to 15 seconds afterwards. Now it stops after a second or two. With my violin, the same thing happens. While I’m playing, there is feedback the whole time, so that part hasn’t improved much. However, when I stop, the feedback stops fairly quickly.

The new update definately is a step in the right direction, but it’s not quite there yet.

Not much has been happening lately. Cochlear hasn’t come up with new software yet, and probably won’t for a while. The BAHA is normal for me now, and I think I am improving a little with localizing, but it’s hard to tell. Not much else to say.

A couple days ago I received an audio cable we had ordered a couple days before that. I find that it works quite well, although if it gets turned too loud and then back down again, I still get whistling/feedback as usual. However, it is definately an improvement from headphones if I need to listen to something, as I do not have to hold it by my ear. I found that the sound quality is pretty much the same as when I am listening from a stereo or speaker of some kind, which is really good.

About a week ago I went to the audiologist to get my new hearing aid. It turns out that it did the exact same thing that the old one did. There was feedback/whistling whenever there were loud sounds, or certain frequencies. Basically, I noticed no difference at all. Now we’re going to just wait until Cochlear comes out with some new software, because then we can try to fix it through programming.

Today I tried localizing again. Someone would talk, and walk around, while my eyes were closed. I would try to track where they went. Most of the time, I would be able to follow the general direction of the sound, and almost always found where they were at the end. It turns out that I can’t localize noises that are behind me. I can tell that they are behind me, but nothing else. Also, if a sound is to my left and slightly forward, I find it hard to tell if it is slightly forward or slightly backward. I thought that these results were quite good, and I must be getting used to hearing direction a little more.

The BP100 is a regular part of my life now, it doesn’t sound weird to me anymore.

Well, I went in to the audiologist, and he said that the BP100 was faulty. Apparently he had spent a couple hours trying to reprogram a BP100 with the same problem, with the result of realizing that it just needed to be replaced. So, after the holidays we’re going to send in the BP100 and get it replaced. Hopefully the new one will not have the same problem with the feedback noise.